Saturday, April 16, 2011

Entry 35 4.10.11

Entry 35, April 10th 2011, 4:52pm (ship time)

I'm toying with a couple potential ideas for the blog.

The first is a “gig-cam,” or some way to show people what the gig actually looks like from where I sit. I've had a fair number of questions from friends about the music, and the shows, and other general stuff about the musical aspect of the job. While I can write and write about it, there's no way to really convey what it's like without using some other medium.

The gig-cam is still in the brainstorming stages. My phone has a video function, and a surprisingly decent camera, but as I sit by the drums the little microphone would clip something fierce. Another option would be a cheap little USB webcam, attached to my netbook and stashed under my seat, but the audio problems remain to some extent. Ideally it would be small enough to mount to my glasses, horn, or lapel without attracting any undue attention, but we'll have to see what my technology options look like.

The other project I'm working on is a “Where does David live?” series, focusing on different areas of the ship that most people never get a chance to see. I will probably start with my cabin, so that those of you considering cruise ship work yourselves can get an idea of what you're getting yourselves into. Let me know if you have any requests (mess hall, stage, etc.), I'll do my best to honor them (I'm not authorized to enter some areas of the ship – pretty much anything below deck zero, the bridge, etc.).

In non-blog related projects, I'm starting to teach myself some basic DJ skills. This is mainly motivated by the uniformly terrible quality of music on the back deck, and that I am the only person within 1000 kilometers that has ever heard of J Dilla, D'Angelo, or Jamie Lidell (seriously). A sad state of affairs indeed. I might even throw in a Neutral Milk Hotel song, if the opportunity presents itself (probably “Holland, 1945”).